This holiday season our nation experienced a jarring juxtaposition I’ve becomemore attuned to since living with cancer: the occasion when heartbreak collideswith celebration. The mid-December massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary Schoolinjected shock and grief into a time when tidings of great joy are supposed to rulethe day. How does one rejoice in the midst of others’ anguish?

I admit that more than once during our family celebrations of the past few weeks,my thoughts gravitated to the stark contrast between my family’s days of laughterand joy and the families in Newtown crying their way through the holidays, knowingthat their precious little ones would never see another holiday, another new year,another day of school. There were moments where it felt almost dishonorable to berejoicing, knowing so many others—both in Newtown and beyond—were buried insadness.